Dinner with a wonderful guy who I met in 2007

A few weeks ago, I bumped into K in the street. I’d be absolutely amazed if any readers remember K, because he’s a guy that I occasionally visited for activities back in 2007 :-). I hadn’t seen him since 2008, and with the passage of time dimming my memory, I almost didn’t recognise him.

“Hi, it’s K isn’t it?” I say, taking him by surprise.

He hadn’t really noticed me, and probably thought that I was a complete stranger before I started talking to him!

“I used to, um, visit you in your home a few years go :-),” I say, trying to help him remember me. “Do you still have a boyfriend?”

“Ahhh, you’re the banker aren’t you :-)?” he replies, finally recognising me. “Actually I split up with my boyfriend a couple of years ago now :-|. How about you?”

“Well, I finally split up from my long term boyfriend in 2008, but we're still friends, and since summer 2009 I've had a new boyfriend :-)."

We chat for a couple of minutes before I make a suggestion.

"Hey, let's go out for dinner one evening and catch up properly :-), what do you think?"

It turns out that he changed his phone since I last saw him, so we exchange phone numbers and agree to contact each other in the near future. A few days later, I send him a txt msg. I'm mildly concerned in case K thinks that I'm asking him out on a proper date, so I include wording to try and make the situation clear:

Hi K, good to bump into you recently :-). Shall we catch up over lunch or dinner at some point, if you've got time, and depending on your work schedule? This would just be lunch or dinner (and note a 'date' LOL) because I've still got a boyfriend. But it would be really good to see you again :-), so do let me know if you can find the time? GB x

Within a few hours, I have his reply

That sounds alright to me!

We exchange a few more txt msgs over the coming days, and eventually we agree a date. The day arrives, and although I get there first, no sooner have I installed myself at the bar than I spot K walking over to join me.

"You're very punctual :-)," I say to him, before giving him a kiss on both cheeks, "you obviously managed to find this place without too many problems!"

"Actually," replies K, "I've often walked past this place, but I never really looked inside. But now that I'm here, it does seem quite nice :-)."

"In this part of town, this is my favourite restaurant," I answer, "because it's got such a reasonable wine list! It's hard to find restaurants where you can get decent clarets and burgundies that are ten years old or more, and even harder to find restaurants that sell a few wines like that for £100 a bottle or less:-)."

We have a cocktail at the bar, before heading to our table to eat.

"So what happened between you and your boyfriend?" I ask, once we've ordered our food.

"Well, we lasted for almost four years, but if I even looked at another man he was so jealous. He used to go through my mobile phone records, and sometimes he would call the numbers that he didn't recognise, to make sure that I wasn't cheating on him."

"WHAT?" I reply, astounded, "No one should have to put up with a boyfriend doing that kind of thing."

"And towards the end," continues K, "I'm pretty sure that it was him who was cheating on me :-(."

"Awww, I'm so sorry to hear that."

"If I remember correctly," I say, "your previous boyfriend used to sleep around a lot too, didn't he?"

"Well kind of," answers K, "my previous boyfriend already had a long term boyfriend. I think he loved me too, but we had to keep everything hidden from his main partner."

"But you're SUCH a nice, loving guy," I suddenly say to K, unable to hold in my indignation anymore, "that you really do deserve a proper boyfriend! You shouldn't have to live in the shadows as someone's second boyfriend, and you definitely shouldn't have to deal with your boyfriend phoning up random numbers on your mobile phone to check that you're not cheating on him, that's OUTRAGEOUS!!"

"Wow," says K quietly, smiling at me, but a bit taken aback by my outburst, "thanks GB :-)."

Gradually we start talking about other things. I tell him a lot about boyfriend T and my current concerns, and he tells me more about his background. I find it very easy to chat to K so we spend a lovely evening at the restaurant together, but eventually it's time to go home.

"It's been really really good to see you again," I say to K once we're outside the restaurant, giving him a quick peck on his lips, "so let's not lose touch again!"

"Very good to see you too, GB," replies K, "so yes, let's meet up again before too long :-)."

If I do ever need to look for another boyfriend, then out of the guys that I already know, I'd definitely put K on a target list of potential new boyfriends. But the more that I think about possible future relationships with K or my Thai friend B, the more I realise how much I love boyfriend T. Although I'm not optimistic at the moment that my relationship with boyfriend T will last, I sincerely hope it does, and that we can spend the rest of our lives growing old together.